Scott Lord Silent Film: The Country Doctor (D.W. Griffith, Biograph, 1909)

One technique used to present narrative by D.W. Griffith, although the principle thematic action was two interior scenes connected by cutting on action, was to introduce the film with an exterior panning shot as the establishing shot. The film is concluded with a similar exterior shot which pans in the opposite direction to imply the story had reached an irrevocable conclusion.

Written and directed by D.W. Griffith for the Biograph Film Company the film stars Gladys Egan, Mary Pickford, Florence Lawrence and Kate Bruce.

The periodical The Moving Picture World reviewed the film, "The heart dramas which have come from Biograph studio have been numerous but perhaps none has been stronger, nor has there been one which has made the profound impression which is made by this one. Ordinarily, the gloom which accompanies death seems needless in a picture play, not where a drama great moral truth as this one does, perhaps it should be accepted as indicating the right view of life rather than as amusement."

D.W.Griffith

D.W. Griffith Biograph Film Company